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Sanford Medical Centers Earn Consumer Choice Award

6th consecutive year that Sanford Medical Centers in Fargo and Sioux Falls have won this award

(Fargo, ND and Sioux Falls, SD) – National Research Corporation (NRC) is pleased to recognize the nation’s top hospitals as 2011/2012 Consumer Choice Award winners. Sanford Medical Centers in Fargo and Sioux Falls have won the award for the 6th consecutive year.

The award identifies hospitals that healthcare consumers have chosen as having the highest quality and image in over 300 markets throughout the U.S. This is the sixteenth year NRC has awarded hospitals whose consumers have recognized them for providing the highest quality healthcare.

Winners are determined by consumer perceptions multiple quality and image ratings collected in the company’s Ticker survey. This study surveys over 250,000 households representing over 45,000 consumers in the US and the District of Columbia. From the households surveyed, 3,200 hospitals named by consumers are analyzed and ranked based on their Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, with the winning facilities being ranked the highest.

Susan L. Hendricks, President and Chief Operating Officer at NRC , said “The Consumer Choice Award provides a benchmark for consumers to show how important quality healthcare is to them and their families.”

“Consumers are taking a more proactive role in their healthcare decisions and demanding higher quality. In a constantly changing healthcare industry, consumer perceptions is becoming more and more vital to the success of hospitals,” Hendricks said. “At NRC, we know it is imperative to learn from the patient’s experience in order to improve the quality of care. The Consumer Choice Award recognizes those facilities that are meeting or exceeding the needs of consumers-their patients.”
NRC’s Ticker Survey is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. No other study measures hospital performance and preferences and contains more consumer response than NRC’s study. The study has a margin of error of + or – 0.2 percent at a national level. Co-winners are named when scores fall within the statistical margin of error for a given market.

National Research Corporation (NASDAQ: NRCI) is an industry leader, with more than two decades of experience in healthcare performance measurement and improvement.